A lot of people are still talking about Conway's huge win over Marlboro County from Friday evening. No one would have been completely shocked by a close victory.
But for the Tigers to dominate the game like they did caught a lot of people off guard.
I'm going to stay away from the penalty situation -- there will be more on that in tomorrow's paper -- but something else stuck out almost as much as all the flags on the field. Coach Chuck Jordan is not afraid to take chances. He proved that in the first quarter, when after a Tigers' drive stalled after three plays, he called for a fake punt from the Bulldogs' 37-yard line.
At that point in the game, Jordan and the rest of his coaching staff had no idea it wasn't going to be a field-position battle throughout the contest. He could have punted it away, pinned Marlboro County deep and, with the way his defense was playing (they had already forced a three-and-out and intercepted a pass) probably ended up with solid starting position again.
Instead, Deonta Gore took a short snap and advanced four yards for the first down.
The coach said after the game that his defense holding on a first-and-goal at the end of the first half set the tone. I disagree, I think Jordan did it much earlier with that fake punt, especially after Conway quarterback Robert Nelson hit Brandon Campbell for a 27-yard touchdown pass nine plays later to put the Tigers up 7-0.
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The recurring theme for games I've covered this season has been "blowout." The four games I've covered directly:
Week 0: Conway 35, North Myrtle Beach 0
Week 1: Myrtle Beach 63, Carolina Forest 6
Week 2: Aynor 49, Green Sea Floyds 13
Week 4: Conway 35, Marlboro County 7
It's hard to draw too many conclusions from that assortment of games, but we can make one: Consistency has been hard to come by early this year.
There have been injuries (Conway's Mykal Moody, Myrtle Beach's Everett Golson, etc.), first-year coaches (North Myrtle Beach's Perry Woolbright, Green Sea Floyds' Joey Still, for example) and teams needing a few weeks to discover exactly what they can do well (Georgetown's Bradley Adams).
Most of the area football teams have some talented players; others are building and need some time to find a groove.
But the fact that nearly every team has a built-in reason to need longer than just a couple weeks to get to mid-season form means that all these blowouts may not be over yet. What does that mean for you, the fan?
Well, primarily it means that there should be some exciting football come region teams. Many of our area teams have beat up on each other pretty good. That leads to some of those injuries mentioned earlier. It also generally provides a boost when playing teams that don't know every detail about each other.
For that to happen, though, all these area teams will have to make the most of their respective adversity. Whether it's injuries or something else, region play offers teams few excuses, especially if it causes your team to be sitting at come come playoff time.
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I'm looking for a few people who are planning on playing the Conway-Myrtle Beach Alumni Game in December. If you've already signed up to play, please shoot me an email: ian@ianguerin.com. We're working on a story for later in the week.
And, as always, remember to get in the conversation on Friday nights via Twitter. You can get updates from every game throughout the night by following the Sports Desk, @TSN_SportsNews.
